How to get a Atari 7800 running?

[jeffro11]

Don't plan on it! The Atari simply doesn't interest me at all.

So your saying all of these are like this then? That's pretty alarming.

[Hobie-wan]

I just got the system a few weeks ago. The system hadn't been drowned at any point in the past that I could tell. It was no dirtier that any other 25+ year old system that's lived in an attic or a garage for quite a while. Apparently 7800 power switches are notorious for failing. The switch was sealed up enough that dust wasn't going to get in, but it wasn't airtight so I'd sure humidity and or condensation could get in over the years. The power switch will get used the most and it's a crappy design like NES cart connectors, so it just crapped out.

The original switch was about 1 cm square and 3 mm thick but it had a plastic disc the same size as that metal one that the button pushed down on. The one I replaced it with was smaller with a small contact patch. I just had to rig up the plastic disc and stick it on top so that it would all push down and hit the button. There wasn't enough room to fit any of the microswitches I had in there even if I had chopped off part of the button. I didn't modify anything on the outside of the system, just the actual button on the board.